Surface modified ceramic fiber separators for thermal batteries

Abstract

A wide range of possible hazards existing in thermal batteries are mainly caused by thermal runaway, which results in overheating or explosion in extreme case. Battery separators ensure the separation between two electrodes and the retention of ion-conductive electrolytes. Thermal runaways in thermal batteries can be significantly reduced by the adoption of these separators. The high operating temperature and the violent reactivity in thermal batteries, however, have limited the introduction of conventional separators. As a substitute for separators, MgO powders have been mostly used as a binder to hold molten salt electrolyte. During recent decades the fabrication technology of ceramic fiber, which has excellent mechanical strength and chemical stability, has undergone significant improvement. In this study we adopted wet-laid nonwoven paper making method instead of the electrospinning method which is costly and troublesome to produce in volume. Polymeric precursor can readily be coated on the surface of wet-laid ceramic paper, and be formed into ceramic film after heat treatment. The mechanical strength and the thermo-chemical stability as well as the wetting behaviors of ceramic separators with various molten salts were investigated to be applicable to thermal batteries. Due to their excellent chemical, mechanical, and electrical properties, wet-laid nonwoven separators made from ceramic fibers have revealed positive possibility as new separators for thermal batteries which operate at high temperature with no conspicuous sign of a short circuit and corrosion.